News Briefs, From Desert Outfits to Betty Broderick

Visions and revisions.

* Desert Storm fashion statement.

The hottest seller at G.I. Joe’s Army Navy Surplus Store in Solana Beach: desert camouflage for children.

* Actor David Ogden Stiers is doing a cameo in a fund-raising video for the Center for the Arts in Escondido. He’ll be himself, not Maj. Charles Emerson Winchester.

* Press releases I released immediately:

“Major errors, including fully imperforate F-series non-denominated coil stamps that were found by a non-collector will be on display . . . .”

(For a stamp show in Oceanside.)

* Money talks.

Jim Painter, just named as the Sheriff’s Department’s first civilian director of detention, will earn more ($95,000) than his boss, Undersheriff Jay La Suer ($86,000), or his boss’ boss, Sheriff Jim Roache ($92,000).

A county committee decided the salary was necessary to lure top candidates to house-pricey San Diego County.

* More money.

The Utility Consumers Action Network is seeking $234,794.31 from Southern California Edison for UCAN’s work in killing The Merger.

Edison says UCAN shouldn’t get more than $116,832.81. The Public Utilities Commission will decide.

* San Diego bumper sticker: “California Says No to Rights.”

Go figure.

* Just formed: a La Jolla group called Alliance for Divorce & Marriage Reform, dedicated to the proposition that the legal system is biased against women.

Group leader Ronnie Brown says one goal will be to monitor the courts to make sure women aren’t shafted.

One of the first trials that may come under scrutiny: the upcoming retrial of Betty Broderick on murder charges.

Inquiring Minds at Work

I walk through the long column, questioning.

* How badly are tourism and motel occupancy sagging in San Diego?

So bad that the marquee outside the 7-Seas Lodge in Mission Valley implores: GET IN HERE.

* How dangerous is police work these days?

A survey making the rounds of the San Diego Police Department shows 83% of front-line cops in the Western states wear bulletproof vests 100% of the time.

* How dangerous are steroids?

San Diego prosecutors have a name for the increasing number of violent crimes committed by whacked-out steroid-poppers: ‘Roid rages.

* Are the Clippers returning to San Diego?

Yes, but only for a charity game Oct. 24 at the Sports Arena versus the Israeli basketball team, Maccabee-Tel Aviv.

* Will Clippers owner Donald T. Sterling, who hijacked the team to dread Los Angeles in 1984, be coming to the game?

Not if we’re lucky.

* Will there be cows at Tuesday’s return of the Certified Farmers Market to Coronado?

Yes, they’ll arrive on the 2:15 p.m. ferry from San Diego.

* Why the ferry?

Because cows are crummy swimmers.

A Waiting Game

Check this.

Eugene Nooner, 60, a retired mechanic from Lakeside, is still fighting to have the county government drop its policy of occasionally cashing checks for less than the full amount.

Nooner last January paid $24 for a two-year dog license. But the county cashed his check only for $16 for a one-year license because his dog didn’t have its shots.

As a matter of principle, Nooner has been crying foul ever since.

Last week, the Board of Supervisors gave the chief administrative officer another 90 days to study Nooner’s complaint. (It’s already been studied by the auditor-controller, treasurer, assessor and county counsel.)

“I think they’re stalling so the statute of limitations runs out so no one can face civil or criminal charges,” Nooner sputters.

Not so, say county officials: The county may sometimes take less money than is offered but it always takes as much time as possible.